As I was casually browsing around today, I came across this blog post. It's about the recently released VLC media player for the iPad, which you can use to play just about any video under the sun on your iPad. The blog post is a complaint about a bit of help text that's not properly rendered inside the application - annoying, but no dealbreaker. Until I actually read the text - this is how you're supposed to get content on your iPad?

Thom, I've never agreed with you more. That may very well be the smartest thing anyone has ever said about anything...

iTunes blows. I can't even give it points for making an effort. given, people ("users") accept it, but it's because they are users. show them something better, instal it, and set it as they're default and they will use that instead if it does all the functions they need (and sometimes if they don't). That's the same reason everyone I work with has Opera on their machines and IE is no longer the default

Except iTunes isn't simple. Or elegant. Or anything other than a slow, bloated, unstable piece of crap.

+100 for this comment. It's apparent that some people like iTunes (God only knows why), and some people don't, so here's how you settle this matter...

On my Sansa Clip+, there's an option where you can switch between having the device hold your hand and sync files with a media player, and simply having the device show up as a mass storage device. This way, everybody's happy.

So, why not just give people the option? The reason is because Apple is not about giving people options. There approach is a 'one size fits all' approach, but one size never does fit all.

BTW: On Android devices, you can install an app (forget the name) that lets you beam files wirelessly from your computer.

"People want simplicity. And elegance. And a bunch of other things I can't remember right now.

Except iTunes isn't simple. Or elegant. Or anything other than a slow, bloated, unstable piece of crap. "

What's complicated about it? On a network of hundreds of users, I don't have ANY complaints about it on the Windows or Mac side, in terms of usability or stability. If our users can figure it out, anyone can.